GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY • SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL & BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING • VOL. 12 NO. 1 • WINTER 2004

By Ronald RousseauSchool Chair

The School of Chemical &Biomolecular Engineering hasmore than a century of historyat Tech. In that time, it has hadan active role in weaving thefabric of the Institute. Throughthe students it has graduatedand the faculty members whohave taught them, the Schoolhas contributed greatly to thegrowth of Tech, the Atlantaregion, and the nation acrosswhich its progeny have spread.

We take pride in our disciplineand think that in many respectsit has provided the intellectualcapital that built the world’senergy and chemical enter-prises. The recent appreciationof the global nature of muchof what we do is not surprisingto many who have contributedto building those industries. Infact, today, only about half ofall chemical engineering gradu-ates in the U.S. are employedupon graduation by traditionalchemical or energy industries.Diversification has not been

limited to the industrial sector.Georgia Tech chemical engi-neering faculty members, and those from other universities,have embraced research oppor-tunities in materials, microelec-tronics, and biotechnology.They have done so becausethey bring exceptional skills andinsights to these areas, andbecause these are fields where our students are likely to findtheir opportunities.

With all these advances,however, it is rare to find those

from outside the discipline withan awareness of this breadth ofactivity. How many, for exam-ple, know that our School hasthe largest and best groupworking in the field ofmicroelectronics among all the chemical engineering programsin the United States? Howmany recognize that the earlyentry of engineering into medi-cine was led by chemical engi-neers? How many know thatnanotechnology inevitably

Last year marked a significantnumber of changes for ChBE.First, the School moved into itsnew home, the Ford Environ-mental Science & TechnologyBuilding. That event wasfollowed by its official namechange, as detailed in the articleabove. However, those changeswere not the only monumentalevents to occur. Georgia Techand ChBE officially welcomedthe Institute of Paper Scienceand Technology (IPST) into itsfamily, thus further enhancingthe breadth and depth of theSchool’s academic program andresearch opportunities.

History of IPSTLeaders of the pulp and paperindustry founded the Institute

of Paper Chemistry (IPC) in1929. Located in Appleton,Wisconsin, it flourished andbecame a major supplier of thetechnical leadership of theindustry. As the industryevolved and its dominantsource of pulpwood movedfurther south, IPC decided inthe late 1980s to relocate to theGeorgia Tech campus inAtlanta. The IPC Board ofDirectors clearly believed thatthe change in locale was not theonly reason to make such amajor transition; it had becomemore and more expensive tomaintain a research organiza-tion at the cutting edge ofscience and technology, andtechnical advances had come torely to a much greater extent

upon interchanges betweenscientists and engineers fromvarious disciplines. The IPCleadership correctly predictedthat being on the Tech campuswould provide opportunities for

interactions that would have aprofound impact on the direc-tion of IPC’s research. Andwhile at the business of change,

After More Than 100 Years, the School Has a New Name

IPST Officially Becomes Part of Georgia Tech FamilySC

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The Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) is located on theGeorgia Tech Campus at 10th Street and Hemphill Avenue.

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Global AwarenessRecently, ChBE faculty members organizedthe establishment of the Center for ProcessSystems Engineering (CPSE) as part of theInstitute’s effort to foster a budding alliancewith Imperial College, London. The Centrefor Process Systems Engineering, a jointcenter between Imperial College and Univer-sity College London, was established in 1989and has held a preeminent position inprocess systems engineering with successesin both the academic and industrial sectors.

The establishment of the sister center at Techwill promote research collaborations amongPSE researchers at the two institutions andprepare for a launch of an InternationalCPSE, which will be developed and managedjointly by the two institutions.

Of the ten faculty members currentlyinvolved with Tech’s CPSE, most are fromChBE, with others from the School of Indus-trial and Systems Engineering and the Collegeof Computing. The Center is forming anindustrial consortium to finance its operationand to assist in the identification of researchproblems relevant to industries. In Septem-ber, CPSE hosted a symposium on campus tointroduce academic and industrial leaders tothe new Center and to familiarize them withits research projects and goals.

CPSE’s vision is to “become a world leader inresearch and education that will sustain theprocess industries’ innovation embodied inproducts or processes.” As the pace of tech-nological development is accelerating and life-cycles of products and processes are shorten-ing, there is an increasing need to move basicresearch to market more rapidly, especially intoday’s environment where product develop-ment and manufacturing tend to span a verybroad range of length and time scales. Inorder to meet this challenge, scientific discov-ery and systems thinking must be combined,which calls for multidisciplinary researchefforts. The Center’s research will focus onsolving these and similar problems facingtoday’s industries.

The Center’s activities have three maincomponents: Research, Partnership withIndustries, and Continuing Education andTechnology Transfer. These efforts are orga-nized into three different applicationdomains: Product and Process Design, Oper-ation, and Measurement and Control. Thefirst area focuses on the problem of integrat-ing product and process designs into onesystematic effort so that economic and envi-ronmental performances of a product can beassessed early on and reflected in productdesign decisions.

The second area of operation will look atproblems of production planning and sched-uling and supply chain management. In addi-tion to the supply chains for traditionalcommodity-type products, research willaddress problems associated with supplychains for products whose supply anddemand can change rapidly in a highly uncer-tain manner. Examples include vaccines andother pharmaceutical products.

The last area of control and measurementinvolves development of sensors for key vari-ables along with strategies and algorithms formanipulating processing conditions to ensureacceptable product quality and safe andeconomic operation. In addition to theprocesses in traditional industries like oil,chemical, and paper, research will examinecontrol problems that arise in microelectron-ics manufacturing and biological systems,which tend to involve phenomena and speci-fications at smaller length scales and havesignificantly higher complexities.

If you would like additional informationabout the Center, please contact CPSE’sdirector, Professor Jay H. Lee, at jay.lee@chbe.gatech.edu, or visit the Center’s web siteat www.cpse.gatech.edu.

Georgia Tech Events

New Research Center Forms Alliance with ImperialCollege London and University College London

From left: Margaret “Peggy” Farrell, ChE ‘78, and Robert A. Farrell,ChE ‘79, with Professor Mark White at ChBE’s homecoming receptionin October. As students, the couple met in Dr. White’s Reactor Designclass in 1978 and later were married. They now have a son, Sean,who is a Georgia Tech freshman majoring in Biomedical Engineering.

Professor Joe Schork (left) greets parents during Family Weekend2003. This year’s event provided the first formal occasion for familymembers to visit ChBE’s new home, the Ford Environmental Scienceand Technology Building.

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means manipulating matter atthe molecular level, somethingchemical engineers have beendoing for decades? And howmany recognize that thecomplexity of an oil refinery ledchemical engineers to think ofsystems and the integration ofhigh-speed computing intocontrol techniques long beforeother disciplines discoveredsystems thinking?

We are concerned about thislack of recognition because it

affects the thinking of thosewho are the future of our disci-pline and, ultimately, our society:the best and the brightest youngminds seeking to make their wayin a world of technology. Thecompetition for these individualsis fierce, and just winning thecompetition is not enough.Once we attract such students,we have to deliver. I believe wecan do so by maintaining thecore principles around whichchemical engineering has beenbased and by responding vigor-ously and structurally to oppor-tunities in molecular and cellularbiology. Indeed, chemical engi-neering is uniquely positioned atthe interface between molecularsciences and engineering. Thisposition provides great opportu-nities in the life sciences throughthe use of genetics and develop-ment of new pharmaceuticals, inenergy, in protecting our planetby fostering the development ofsustainable systems, throughimplementing molecular controlof processes and devices, and incountless unforeseen ways.

Responses to ChangeChemical engineering is a disci-pline that was founded on theapplication of chemistry as anenabling science. Over time,and with increasing speed, it hasevolved so that biologicalsciences and chemistry now fillthe position once uniquely heldby chemistry. The facultybelieve that an important step inour response to the changes thathave taken place within thediscipline is to give greater visi-bility to them. Accordingly, wechose a new name for our acad-

emic unit: the School of Chemi-cal & Biomolecular Engineering.Our work has not stopped there.We once again examined ourcurriculum for ways to increasethe exposure chemical engineer-ing students get to biology andto provide opportunities forstudents to concentrate theirareas of study.

The faculty has recently recom-mended, and the appropriateInstitute committees haveapproved, three curriculumchanges: (1) Since biologicalsciences are now recognized tobe essential for all chemicalengineering graduates, a coursein biology is now required. (2)Undergraduates may now take acourse in biochemistry as analternative to a course in analyti-cal chemistry. (3) Students maytake a course in bioprocessing,which is one of a limited set ofupper-level courses that can beused to satisfy a chemical engi-neering course requirement.Perhaps more important thanthese curriculum modifications,

the faculty has committed itselfto covering applications ofbiological sciences in thecontent of current chemicalengineering courses. For exam-ple, courses in thermodynamicswill include applications tobiological systems and/or mole-cules produced biologically.

This emphasis on biology as anenabling science for moleculartransformations has had greatconsequences for chemical engi-neering. No longer can chemi-cal engineers assume that a newcompound will be synthesizedcommercially using classicalchemical techniques; and nolonger can the discipline showerits nearly undivided attention onspecies that have relativelysimple structures with ancestorsin crude oil. For more than 20years many chemical engineershave been pointing out thisinevitability. For example, it isinstructive to consider theprogramming for technicalsessions by the American Insti-tute of Chemical Engineers; atits last annual meeting therewere 95 sessions (roughly 40%of the total program) specifi-cally dealing with biologically-

oriented topics, and an over-whelming percentage of theother sessions had such topicsembedded in their programs.

Given all of these changes, it isimportant to potential students,others in academia, and societyat large that the School’s name isreflective of its programs andthe disciplines that it supports.The name must also demon-strate the breadth of activitiesand opportunities consistentwith the mission of the School.

Prior to changing the School’sname, we carefully studied theunique campus climate at Geor-gia Tech, our position in theUniversity System of Georgia,and what other leading chemicalengineering programs across thenation are doing. Our analysisled us to the clear conclusionthat Chemical & BiomolecularEngineering is the most appro-priate name for our program.

Biomolecular Researchin the SchoolFour faculty members with afull-time appointment in theSchool devote their research tobiomolecular-related topics:Andreas Bommarius, MarkPrausnitz, AthanassiosSambanis, and Timothy Wick.In addition, several professorswith joint appointments toChBE and other Schools alsoconduct biomolecular research.These professors include MarkAllen, who is a professor in theSchool of Electrical andComputer Engineering; RobertNerem, who is the Director ofthe Parker H. Petit Institute forBioengineering and Bioscience;and Larry McIntyre, who is theWallace H. Coulter Chair &

Professor of the Department ofBiomedical Engineering.

The profiles on the followingpage outline a selection of thebiomolecular research projects –specifically biomedical – thatsome of these professors arecurrently researching. For addi-tional information aboutresearch in ChBE, please visit:www.chbe.gatech.edu/research/areas.htm.

“How many know that our School

has the largest and best group working in

the field of microelectronics among

all the chemical engineering programs

in the United States?”

Name Change continued

“How many recognize that the

early entry of engineering into medicine

was led by chemical engineers?”

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Examples of Biomedical Research in ChBE

Mark AllenProfessor Allen’s main research focus is in microelectromechani-cal systems (MEMS), which is defined as the use of microfabrica-tion techniques to create mechanical structures in silicon andother materials, potentially in addition to electronic devices.Along with Dr. Jay Yadav, a cardiologist and director of periph-eral and carotid intervention at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation,Prof. Allen founded CardioMEMS Inc. in 2000 to create a newgeneration of medical devices. CardioMEMS is currently develop-ing two products with its wireless pressure-sensing technology:

• A heart sensor to measure intra-cardiac pressure in patients with congestive heart failure, a condition in which the heart is not pumping properly due to clogged arteries, high blood pres-sure, or other medical conditions.

• An AAA sensor to measure blood pressure in people with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which is a weakening in the lower aorta that can cause it to expand and rupture.

The microsensors must be implanted using a minor surgicalprocedure. Once they are in place, doctors can regularly audittheir patients and collect information that cannot be obtained inan isolated test. The sensors essentially serve as an early-warningsystem and also provide more information than current tests.Currently, the CardioMEMS microsensors are in final testing anddevelopment stages, and the company expects to launch the AAAsensor in late 2004, followed by the heart sensor in 2005.

Mark PrausnitzProfessor Prausnitz and co-workers in the Laboratory for DrugDelivery are studying how to use engineering technologies todeliver drugs and genes for improved medical therapies andbiotechnology laboratory procedures. Their approach employsmechanical and chemical methods to increase temporarily thepermeability of cell membranes, skin, or other biological barriersto help transport therapeutic molecules across them.

To increase skin permeability and thereby help transdermal patchesdeliver drugs across the skin, Prof. Prausnitz’s group has used thetechnology of the microelectronics industry to produce micron-scale needles that pierce painlessly into skin. When inserted intodiabetic rats, microneedles deliver insulin to rapidly correct bloodsugar levels. When microneedles are inserted into the skin ofpeople, they report feeling no pain. A number of companies areactively developing microneedles for commercialization.

Ultrasound can also be used to help deliver drugs and genesacross cell membranes and inside cells. Prof. Prausnitz’s grouphas shown that the mechanism involves the formation and implo-sion of cavitation bubbles that probably shear off a piece of cellmembrane. Molecules can then diffuse into the cell through theresulting hole, which subsequently reseals. In this way, ultrasoundcan load cells with large numbers of molecules, such as proteins,and can increase DNA transfection.

Athanassios SambanisProfessor Sambanis’ group is working on developing core enablingtechnologies towards engineering a pancreatic tissue substitute fortreatment of insulin-dependent diabetes. The substitute should befunctional in vitro and post-implantation in vivo, immune accept-able, and amenable to fabrication at a medically relevant scale. Thetechnologies pursued depend strongly on the types of insulin-secret-ing cells employed. In Prof. Sambanis’ lab, work focuses on pancre-atic islets and continuous insulin-secreting beta cell lines, as well ason non-pancreatic cells genetically engineered to secrete insulin inresponse to physiologic stimuli. The first two cell types are of allo-geneic (from a different member of the same species) or xenogeneic(from another species) origin, whereas the engineered non-pancre-atic cells can be autologous (from the same individual) in nature.

It is important to pursue multiple research directions in parallel toavoid “show stoppers” and also because it is unclear which approachwill eventually yield a viable therapeutic procedure; therefore, differ-ent core technologies need to be developed in each case. To thatend, his group is exploring numerous options to find the best solu-tion, including genetic engineering of non-pancreatic cells for physi-ologically responsive insulin secretion, development of stable, func-tional encapsulated cell systems containing continuous cell lines,development of nuclear magnetic resonance-based methods fornon-invasive monitoring of a pancreatic substitute, and cryopreser-vation of encapsulated cells.

Timothy WickProfessor Wick’s research group focuses on two different areas:developing methods for large-scale production of engineered tissuessuitable for human implantation and identifying therapeutic treat-ment options for complications from sickle cell anemia.

Human Implantation — To date, research has focused on engineer-ing tissue constructs with biochemical and mechanical propertiessimilar to native tissue. Less emphasis has been placed on the inte-gration of tissue development into the overall bioprocess scheme.The overall objective of Prof. Wick’s group is to develop bioreactorsto provide biochemical and mechanical environments that promotecell proliferation and abundant matrix deposition to produce func-tional tissues for implantation.

Sickle Cell Anemia — Blockage of blood flow in blood vessels is afrequent complication for patients with sickle cell anemia. Inmicrovessels, adherence of sickle red blood cells to blood vessel wallendothelial cells initiates or propagates vaso-occlusion that inhibitstissue oxygenation, leading to severe pain. Adherence is increasedby endothelial activation with inflammatory mediators. Therapies toprevent sickle cell vaso-occlusive complications are limited. Hisgroup’s research has led to a better understanding of the role of celladhesion in vascular occlusion and tissue damage and has identifiednovel targets for development of therapeutics to inhibit or reverseadhesion and the concurrent tissue damage.

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Mark Allen and Mark Prausnitz, along with I. J. Gujral, receivedU.S. Patent No. 6,611,707 for a microneedle drug delivery device.

Sue Ann Bidstrup Allen and Paul Kohl were issued a patent for“Fabrication of Semiconductor Device with Air Gaps for Ultra-LowCapacitance Interconnections and Methods.” Along with CliffHenderson, they were also issued a patent for “Fabrication ofSemiconductor Devices with Air Gaps for Ultra Low CapacitanceInterconnections and Methods of Making Same.”

In November, Yulin Deng was elected as an International AdvisoryBoard member for the journal of Progress in Paper Recycling. He alsopublished more than six journal articles.

Jeff Empie delivered several invited lectures, including two at theTechnical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) FallTechnical Conference.

A festschrift honoring Chuck Eckert was published by the AmericanChemical Society journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research,one of chemical engineering’s premier scholarly journals. A state-ment in the introductory article of the volume refers to Prof. Eckertas “one of the most influential researchers in molecular thermody-namics, chemical kinetics, and separations.” A reception commemo-rating the publication of the tribute was held on Jan. 21 at GeorgiaTech with numerous campus leaders, colleagues, and students inattendance. Prof. Eckert also published a book chapter and lecturedon “Nontraditional Solvents for Sustainable Chemical Processes” atfour universities, and published numerous journal articles.

Larry Forney’s article (co-authored with J. A. Pierson) entitled“Improved Methods for UV Processing of Fruit Juices” was selectedas the “cover” article for the Jan./Feb. issue of Resource, which is ajournal published by ASAE—the Society for Engineering in Agricul-tural Food and Biological Systems. He also gave four lectures atvarious campuses on “UV Processing in Fruit Juices.”

Cliff Henderson delivered invited lectures at the University ofFlorida on “Patterning at the Nanoscale: Designing Materials andProcesses to Enable Nanolithography” and at the University ofNorth Carolina at Charlotte on “Polymers and Polymer Thin Filmsfor Microlithography: Current and Future Challenges.” His researchgroup was awarded another National Science Foundation researchgrant and also recently filed for two new U.S. patents.

Chris Jones gave invited lectures at the University of Virginia,Virginia Tech, Wayne State University, University of Windsor, andLehigh University.

In addition to publishing seven articles, Paul Kohl was issued apatent for “Electrostatic Actuators with Intrinsic Stress Gradient.”

Bill Koros was elected a Fellow of the American Association for theAdvancement of Science in September, an honor bestowed uponmembers by their peers. Fellows are recognized for meritorious

efforts to advance science or its applications. He also gave threeinvited lectures and received four patents.

Jay Lee gave a keynote talk entitled “Simulation-Based DynamicProgramming Framework for Process Control and Scheduling”at the International Conference on Control, Automation, andSystems held in Gyeongju, Korea in October. He also presented aseminar in the chemical engineering department at the University ofTexas at Austin in November, and published eight journal articles.

Carson Meredith was the guest editor of the October issue of theJournal of Materials Science. The issue focused on a new rapidly grow-ing field of combinatorial polymer science. Prof. Meredith was alsoinvited to present at the 2004 World Biomaterials Congress inSydney, Australia.

A paper that Athanasios Nenes co-authored for the journalGeophysical Research Letters has been selected by the editors as an“AGU Journal Highlight,” which means that a summary of the arti-cle will be published in Geophysical Research Letters and distributed tonews media in advance of the journal’s publication. The article isentitled “Iron Mobilization in Mineral Dust: Can Anthropogenic SO2

Emissions Affect Ocean Productivity?”

Mark Prausnitz was named director of a newly formed researchcenter, Georgia Tech’s Center for Drug Design, Development andDelivery (CD4). The new center currently has 20 faculty participantsfrom the Colleges of Engineering and Sciences (mostly from Chemi-cal & Biomolecular Engineering, Chemistry, and Biomedical Engi-neering). Prof. Prausnitz also received a grant from the NationalInstitute of Health for research on Mechanisms of Ultrasound-Medi-ated Bioeffects and a grant from the U.S. Department of Educationfor nine graduate student fellowships in drug gene therapy develop-ment. He chaired a conference session on nanotechnology at the30th International Symposium on Controlled Release of BioactiveMolecules in Glasgow, Scotland, and also gave six invited lectures.

Ronald Rousseau presented a seminar at Carnegie Mellon Univer-sity on October 7. He also accepted an invitation to serve as execu-tive editor for the journal Chemical Engineering Science.

Arnold Stancell has been named a Fellow of the American Instituteof Chemical Engineers. Prof. Stancell’s selection was based on bothtechnical and leadership contributions. His development of novelprocesses for specialty chemicals and for leadership of a jointventure on liquefied natural gas worth over $18 billion in Qatar werenoted, along with his contribution to many national AIChE andNational Research Council (NRC) committees.

Amyn Teja presented four invited lectures, including three at theAIChE Meeting in San Francisco in November, and one entitled“Effect of Cosolutes on the Solubility and Crystallization of AminoAcids” at the ACS Meeting in New Orleans. He also published eightjournal articles.

Faculty News

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he Simmons Conference Room, located on Lower Level One of the Ford ES&T Building, wasdedicated in March 2003 in memory of J. Harry Simmons and in honor of his wife, Myrtice K.Simmons. The Simmonses are the parents of James F. “Jim” Simmons, TEXT ‘66, M.S.TEXT ‘67, who has been a long-time supporter of the School of Chemical & BiomolecularEngineering. He and his wife, Peggy, wanted to name the conference room for his parents inhonor of their recognition of the importance of education. They were committed to ensuring

that their children finish college despite the fact that the elder Simmonsdid not finish high school and neither parent attended college. The roomdedication turned out to be more than just a special occasion for Myrtice– it also presented a rather large surprise. Not until the name plaque wasunveiled did she know that her name would also be a part of the room’sofficial moniker.

During the ceremony, Jim Simmons said that his dad would “be so proudthat there was something named for him at an institution like Georgia Tech.” The elder Simmons was definitelyproud of his son, who completed not only his bachelors degree, but also his masters and graduated with honors.

Jim Simmons served on the Capital Campaign committee for ChBE and has been a member of the ChBEExternal Advisory Board for many years. School Chair Ron Rousseau says that “Jim and his family are some ofthe best friends that the School has.” Although his degree is not in chemical engineering, Mr. Simmons chose to

support ChBE because he enjoyed and benefited from his career working for chemical companies. He decided that he wanted to contribute tothe School’s continued success at producing outstanding chemical engineers. His career achievements and his service to the School earned hisinduction into the College of Engineering Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni in 1996.

After retiring as president from Hoechst Celanese Limited, Mr. Simmons co-founded Custom Solution Builders, a management and consultingfirm, and now serves as Chairman and CEO. He and Peggy, who is an accomplished artist, live in Charlotte, N.C. The couple have a daughterand son-in-law, Lara and Steve Nichols, and two granddaughters, Isabel and Caroline.

TSimmons’ Gift Honors Parents’ Love of Education

Alumni Gifts Fund and Enhance New Building

Myrtice K. and J. Harry Simmons

Janice Phillips, ICS ‘77, and husband W. Norman Phillips, Jr., ChE ‘77,(back row) attended the dedication of the ChBE faculty office namedin their honor. Their children and Norm’s mother joined them in thisphoto, along with School Chair Ron Rousseau (far right) and ProfessorMark White (front row), who currently occupies the office.

John L. Kiappes, ChE ‘70, and his wife, Karen, at the September 18dedication of the ChBE faculty office named in their honor. TheKiappes’ three children and many other family members alsoattended the celebration. Professor Chris Jones currently occupiesthe office.

The dedication of the Ford Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) Building in May 2003 recognized Ford Motor Company as oneof the primary contributors whose generous gifts have improved the quality of the School’s facilities. There have also been several otherimportant dedication ceremonies held in the School. This issue of ChBE News features some of the gifts that were made by Tech alumni.The next issue will spotlight more of these generous contributions. All but two of the many private donors to the Ford ES&T Building,which houses numerous other Schools and programs, are friends of the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering.

Jim and Peggy Simmons

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Sankar Nair joined the Schoolas an assistant professor in thefall of 2003. He was born inNew Delhi, India and obtainedhis bachelor’s degree in chemi-cal engineering in 1997 fromthe Indian Institute of Technol-ogy Delhi. In 2002, he receivedhis Ph.D. in chemical engineer-ing and concurrently his M.S. inphysics from the University ofMassachusetts Amherst.

His doctoral research focusedon the use of oxide molecular

sieves (highly ordered crystalswith nanometer-scale porouschannels) to perform energy-efficient and high-quality sepa-rations. Challenging problemsthat he researched were theseparation of xylene isomerswith a molecular sievemembrane, and natural gaspurification using a molecularsieve that could be tuned bytemperature changes. He alsoestablished a collaboration withthe group of Dan Neumann atthe National Institute of Stan-dards & Technology (NIST) inMaryland, and spent a postdoc-toral year at NIST studyingnanoporous materials withneutron scattering experiments.

His research group is broadlyconcerned with engineeringnanoscale materials and deviceswith technologically uniqueproperties. For this purpose, herelies on combining analyticalchemical engineering fundamen-tals with synthetic chemistry,mechanistic experiments, andmolecular simulations. Prof.Nair and his group are now

working on three problems ofimportance in energy manage-ment, biotechnology, and sepa-rations. They are engineeringnano-porous materials that arehydrophilic (water-absorbing) aswell as thermally conductive, apreviously elusive goal. Heatingand air-conditioning systemsbased on such materials will beable to efficiently harnessrenewable (e.g., solar) energythrough an environmentallybenign energy carrier (watervapor), substantially reducingreliance on fossil fuels andlowering greenhouse emissions.The group is also developinghydrophilic nanotubes as inor-ganic analogues to biologicalion channels (protein channelsembedded in cell membranes)and intends to use them assensors to characterize DNAand other biomolecules atspeeds greatly exceeding currentmethods. His group is alsodeveloping experimental meth-ods to directly probe transportprocesses inside membranesused for separations. This capa-bility has not existed previously

in membrane science but ifdemonstrated, has importantimplications for membranetransport theory.

He is teaching the undergradu-ate Process Principles courseduring spring semester;however, his teaching activitiesbegan last fall by developing afive-lecture graduate coursecomponent focusing on theanalysis of transport phenom-ena in nanoscale systems. Heplans to develop this into a full-fledged course, integratingchemical engineering fundamen-tals with the rapidly emergingdiscipline of nanoscale scienceand engineering.

Prof. Nair has so far publishedmore than ten research articles,a book chapter, and has a patentpending. Aside from his scien-tific pursuits, he spends most ofhis free time maintaining hisskill in vocal Indian classicalmusic, which he has studied formore than ten years.

ChBE Welcomes Professor Sankar Nair

Professor Sankar Nair

The Silas Family Recognized in ChBE

Theo and Pete Silas, ChE ‘53, were the guests of honor at thededication of the Theo and Pete Silas Suite for the Chair ofChemical & Biomolecular Engineering on October 3.

Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough spoke during the dedica-tion ceremony and commended Mr. Silas for being one of Tech’smost respected and dedicated alumni.

Mr. Silas served as one of the three chairs of the Institute’s Capi-tal Campaign, which raised $712 million. The Silases’ contribu-tion to the Campaign assisted with funding the construction ofthe Ford ES&T Building, as well as establishing the Silas Chair,held by Professor Ron Rousseau.

A reception was held following the dedication ceremony wherethe Silases greeted former classmates and current facultymembers and students.

Pete Silas, ChE ‘53, and his wife, Theo, stand next to the plaquedisplayed outside of the chair’s suite named in their honor.

the Institute’s name was alsoadjusted to reflect the greaterdiversity of activities as itbecame the Institute of PaperScience and Technology.

Integration with TechIPST became one of four majorresearch institutes at Tech in July2003. The new interdisciplinarycenter, IPST at Georgia Tech,came into existence in January2003 with ChBE School ChairRonald Rousseau serving asinterim director. After an inter-national search, W. James “Jim”Frederick, Jr. was recruited fromChalmers University in Swedento become director.

At Chalmers, Prof. Frederickwas the CEI Professor of GreenChemistry; earlier in his careerhe was a faculty member at IPSTand at Oregon State University,where he served as head of theDepartment of Chemical Engi-neering. In addition to servingas director of IPST, he is also a

professor of chemical & biomol-ecular engineering.

There were numerous changesassociated with bringing IPSTfully into the Tech family,primarily concerning its faculty,students, and degree programs.Academic faculty members wereoffered employment at GeorgiaTech, with three having joinedthe faculty of the School ofChemical & Biomolecular Engi-neering: Sujit Banerjee, YulinDeng, and Jeff Empie. AllIPST graduate students who hadnot completed their degreerequirements by July 1, 2003were enrolled at Tech. Thirty-five continuing students have theSchool of Chemical & Biomole-cular Engineering as their acade-mic home; additionally, ten newPaper Science and Engineering(PSE) graduate students joined45 other new graduate studentsentering the School in pursuit ofM.S. and Ph.D. degrees.

New M.S. and Ph.D. degrees inPSE were approved by the

Board of Regents of theUniversity System of Georgia.These degrees will be offered bythree participating schools:Chemical & Biomolecular Engi-neering, Mechanical Engineeringand Chemistry & Biochemistry.It is expected that Biology andMaterials Science & Engineeringwill also join the multidiscipli-nary program.

Impact of IntegrationForest products is Georgia’slargest manufacturing industryand will benefit significantlyfrom the integration of IPSTinto Tech, as new research capa-bilities will foster the state’seconomic development. Whileretaining capabilities to addresscurrent needs of the industry,the research focus at IPST willshift to embrace a variety ofmore long-term opportunities,including visionary researchfocus in four areas:

• Materials: New ProductPlatforms

• New Process Rechnology

• Sustainable Products &Processes: Green Materials,Green Energy, and Green Chemicals

• Clonal Forestry

Examples of current researchgoals include the developmentof approaches to change thefunctionality of paper – leadingto creation of new materialsand/or new uses and the appli-cation of thin-film chemistriesto paper. The School of Chemi-cal & Biomolecular Engineeringwill be central to the ultimatesuccess of IPST’s researchmission and to the preparationof students to enter this impor-tant industry.

Visit www.ipst.gatech.edu foradditional information. Also,the next issue of ChBE News willfeature research profiles of thethree IPST faculty members whohave joined the School, Profes-sors Banerjee, Deng, and Empie.

IPST continued

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Student News

Abimbola Balogun, one of Prof. Cliff Henderson’s undergradu-ate research students, won the Southeast Regional AIChE Under-graduate Student Paper Competition and then tied for secondplace during the national competition. Also, the Georgia TechAIChE chapter was named an outstanding student chapter at thenational competition. Prof. Pradeep Agrawal is the faculty advi-sor and Joseph Scattergood is the current president.

Won Jae “David” Chung, one of Prof. Pete Ludovice’s researchstudents, gave a presentation at the American Chemical Society(ACS) meeting in New York as a finalist for the ICI Student Awardin Polymer Science. The competition was sponsored by the Poly-meric Materials Science and Engineering Division of ACS.

Padmini Rangamani, a third-year graduate student who works inProf. Timothy Wick’s lab, interned as a research engineer atDePuy Orthopedics (a Johnson & Johnson company) in Warsaw,Indiana as part of the Georgia Tech/Emory Center for LivingTissues (GTEC) program. Some of the research she conducted asan intern resulted in the filing of a provisional patent for a “chemi-cal treatment for removing cellular and nuclear material from natu-rally occuring extracellular matrix based biomaterials.”

One of Prof. Paul Kohl’s graduate research students, HollieReed, along with ECE grad student Muhannad Bakir, werepresented with the Best Paper Award at the Electronic Compo-nents and Technology Conference last summer.

The 16th Annual Graduate StudentSymposium will be held April 15-16 in

the Ford Environmental Science &Technology Building.

For details, please visitwww.chbe.gatech.edu/symposium.

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Alumni ProfileCharles “Garry” Betty gradu-ated from Georgia Tech in1979 with a bachelor’s degreein Chemical Engineering.That may seem an unexpectedstart for someone who is nowPresident and CEO of Earth-Link, Inc., one of the largestinternet service providers in theUnited States, with five millioncustomers, over $1 billion inannual revenue, and thousandsof employees. But Garrylearned early how taking onchallenges can lead to unex-pected rewards.

He grew up near Columbus, Georgia. Both of his parents had cere-bral palsy, and Garry saw his father take his own early troubles andturn them into a career by helping others with speech therapy. “Mymom was a housekeeper, and working hard was just something bothof my parents did,” he says.

When it came time for college, Garry needed to pay his own way, sohis options were to stay home and attend the local college or headnorth to Georgia Tech. He says that he considers himself fortunatethat he could afford to attend Tech because he wanted to be anengineer. He made much of his own financial luck by working 40hours per week while carrying a full load of classes and graduatingin 3-1/2 years. Garry learned practical accounting skills handlinginventory, invoicing, and payroll at the Abrams Fixture Company onJones Avenue. He says he also learned to budget during his time atTech — he and his best friend from high school lived in an apart-ment at 8th and Juniper that cost them only $75 per month.

Garry chose to study chemical engineering because of its reputa-tion as the most challenging curriculum on campus and because heliked math and chemistry. He learned that his training could leadto the most lucrative salary after graduation, too. “I thought it wasfun, and provided the ultimate in practical problem-solving for anengineering curriculum. But it was just hard, especially organic andphysical chemistry.”

He smiles when he remembers the summer he participated in theSchool’s program at University College London. It was an“eyeopening experience” that included his first trip on a plane andextracurricular travel to Scotland and the south of France. He tooka loan for $2,500 so that he could participate, and for the only timeduring his college career, he didn’t work while taking classes. “Thesummer abroad,” he says, “whetted my appetite and influenced thenext 15 years of my life in that it taught me to be patient and gaveme confidence to be comfortable in new environments.”

Upon graduation from Tech, he took a job with Procter & Gamblein technical sales. He then worked at IBM and Hayes Microcom-puters before serving as president and CEO of Digital Communica-tions Associates, Inc. (DCA). At the time, he was the youngestCEO on the New York Stock Exchange.

When he joined EarthLink in 1996, the California company was asmall regional ISP with less than 100,000 members. He has broughtthe company through a lot of changes, including its merger withAtlanta-based MindSpring. Garry and his wife, Kathy, returned toGeorgia when he relocated corporate headquarters there.

Since returning to Atlanta, Garry has had more time to attendGeorgia Tech sporting events, which he really enjoys. He alsocontinues to serve as a member of the School of Chemical &Biomolecular Engineering’s External Advisory Board. In 2002, heled a conversation with faculty and students as the featuredspeaker in The Phillips Petroleum/C.J. “Pete” Silas Program inEthics and Leadership.

Garry has worked for Georgia Tech in many capacities and has beenrecognized by his alma mater for what he has accomplished. He is apast member of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association Board ofTrustees, the Alexander-Tharpe Fund Board of Trustees, theManagement of Technology Corporate Council of Advisers, andthe Advanced Technology Development Center board. In 1993, hewas named Georgia Tech Young Alumnus of the Year. He hasbeen inducted into the College of Engineering’s Council ofOutstanding Young Engineering Alumni as well as the Academy ofDistinguished Engineering Alumni. Garry also recently agreed tochair the Class of 1979 25th Reunion Committee.

Hard work and strong values have been hallmarks of Garry’s career.Characteristically, he gives the credit for his success to external influ-ences and says that he owes much of his success to the skills helearned at Georgia Tech. “I can think of no other school that canprovide a better education and prepare you for the uncertainty ofwhat can happen.”

How Garry Betty, ‘79, Linked Chemical Engineeringwith the World Wide Web

Accolades for EarthLink

2003 PC Magazine Readers' Choice Awards for bothhigh-speed and dial-up services — EarthLink was the onlyInternet service provider honored for both high-speed anddial-up, and the only broadband provider honored offering

both DSL and cable Internet access.

2003 highest ranking in customer satisfaction for the secondyear in a row for high-speed Internet service by J.D. Powerand Associates in its Internet Service Provider ResidentialCustomer Satisfaction StudySM.

Charles “Garry” Betty, ChE ‘79

1978Tom Menges has beenpromoted to President/GeneralManager of Oxy Permian, a unitof Occidental Petroleum, inHouston. He lives in Katy,Texas, with his wife, Dawna, andtheir two children.

1961Dick Simmons, ChE ‘61, M.S.ChE ‘64, retired last April fromMethanex Methanol Company.He was with Methanex for tenyears after retiring fromTenneco Methanol Companyafter 25 years. Dick reports thathis latest “retirement” lastedtwo days as he accepted a posi-tion as Vice President, Fuelsand Energy Group with DeWitt& Company Inc., a globalconsulting firm. He and hiswife, Teresa, who has beenteaching kindergarten for 15years, live in Kingwood, Tex.

1972Ray W Miller’s team at DuPontwas recognized on June 23 bythe EPA for “Microbial Produc-tion of 1,3 Propanediol.”

1981Lou Sorell, M.S. ChE ‘81,joined Goodwin Proctor in NewYork as counsel in March. Helives in Katonah, NY.

1984Tom Lindsay has joined Steri-genics as general manager ofoperations in Smyrna, Ga. Steri-genics is a world leader in thesterilization of medical devicesusing ethylene oxide. Tom, hiswife, Vicki, and their two chil-dren live in Kennesaw, Ga.

1988Steven Hall moved from Gold-man Sachs to Citigroup.

1992Bill Grieco and his wife, Tonya,welcomed their first child, SophiaMarie Grieco, on Nov. 11. Shemeasured 19.5 inches long andweighed in at 6 lb. 12 oz.

Mahesh Thadhani and hiswife, Tina, announce the birthof their first child, KaleighMahesh, on May 23. The familylives in Mission Viejo, Calif.

1993Daniel Habicht and ChristinaLang Habicht, ChE ‘93,announce the birth of a son,Eric Matthew, on April 22.Dan is an engineer for BP-Amoco Fabrics and Fibers inAustell, Ga., and Christine is afull-time mother.

Mark Singleton accepted aposition at The Dixie Group inCalhoun, Ga. as a process engi-neer. Dixie is the fourth largestcarpet manufacturer in the U.S.

1996Maryellen Stutsman Robersonand her husband, Mark,announce the birth of theirthird child, Briana Josephine, onJune 4. Briana joins her brotherWill and sister Katie inDurango, Colo. where Maryellenis a senior process engineer withVECO USA.

1997Daniel Floyd and RebeccaWoo, Biol ‘96, were married May25 in Augusta, Ga. Dan is asenior engineer with the DowChemical Co. and Rebecca is afirst-year obstetrics and gynecol-ogy resident at Baylor UniversityHospital in Houston.

Tom Rogers and his wife,Stacey, announce the birth oftheir daughter, Bella, on Aug. 5.Tom, an information technology

consultant, and his family live inAtlanta.

1998Tricia M. Anderson and JohnChambard were married May10. Tricia, who works forExxonMobil, and her husbandlive in Houston.

1999Matthew Stewart and his wife,Stephanie, announce the birthof their first son, Jacob “Jake”Matthew, on Oct. 13. Jacob hasa head start on being a GeorgiaTech linebacker, weighing in at12 lb. 12 oz. Matthew is a PlantEngineer at Optima ChemicalGroup, LLC and Stephanie is afull-time mother. The familylives in Douglas, Ga.

2000Ginger Wilde Nichols andChris Nichols, ChE ‘95, havemoved to Thomasville, Ga.,where Chris works at YoungLife.Ginger works in the Merck &Company computer systemsengineering group.

2001Chrissy Prues and JamesStovall, CS ‘01, of Athens, Ga.,were married Aug. 9 in Lilburn,Ga. Chrissy is pursuing adoctorate in pharmacy at UGAand James is working forDeloitte Consulting.

OBITUARIES

1937 Virgil D. Gath of Fairhope,Ala., passed away on August 9.He was retired from U.S. SteelInternational.

1938James “Harvey” Wilson, Jr.of Gainesville, Ga., passed awayon March 3. A second lieu-tenant in the Army duringW.W. II, he worked as a fieldchemical engineer withRayonier Inc. His job took himto Mexico, where he establisheda school for local childrenduring his 12 years there.

10

Alumni News

2003Kerry Bullock finished herPh.D. thesis in January 2003,and has taken a postdoctoralresearch position at theEnvironmental ProtectionAgency’s research facility inResearch Triangle (Raleigh-Durham area), NorthCarolina. The highlight ofthe year was her wedding in

Philadelphia at the end of May to Ibrahim “Ali” Ozkan,who is completing his thesis for his Ph.D. in Chemical Engi-neering from Tech. The reception had a Turkish flair, withmany of Ibrahim’s friends in attendance to show everyonehow to dance Turkish-style!

Continued on page 12

11

Four Alumni Receive Prestigious College of Engineering AwardsAt the annual College of Engineering Alumni

Awards Induction Ceremony, four chemicalengineers were honored for their careerachievements. On October 17, DeanDon Giddens inducted ten Tech gradu-ates into the Hall of Fame, fifteen gradu-

ates into the Academy of DistinguishedEngineering Alumni, and twelve graduates

into the Council of Outstanding YoungEngineering Alumni. Of these, Chemi-

cal & Biomolecular Engineeringproudly nominated the following

alumni in recognition of their contributions to their respective fields:

Hall of FameDr. Henderson Ward, B.S. ChE 1949, M.S. MATH 1952,Ph.D. ChE 1953Retired professor, Georgia Tech; currently compiling an historicalrecord of ChBE at Tech~ Recognized for his career as a professor to a generation ofchemical engineering students at Tech.

Academy of Distinguished Engineering AlumniCarlos Barroso, B.S. ChE 1980Senior Vice President of Research and Development, Frito-Lay Inter-national, Inc.; currently serving on ChBE’s External Advisory Board~ Recognized for his leadership in research and development in thefood industry.

Council of Outstanding Young Engineering AlumniDr. David Suleiman, M.S. ChE 1992, Ph.D. ChE 1994 Professor, Chemical Engineering Department, University of PuertoRico, Mayaguez~ Recognized for excellence in chemical engineering education, exem-plified by serving as interim head of the ChE department at UPR.

Sylvia Little, B.S. ChE 1988, M.S. ChE 2002Senior Research Engineer, Kimberly-Clark Corporation~ Recognized for her research career and service to Georgia Tech.

Back row from left: School Chair Ronald Rousseau and Carlos Barroso;Front row from left: David Suleiman, Sylvia Little, and Henderson Ward

CoE Alumni

Awards

2003

IN REMEMBRANCEMarine General Raymond G. Davis, ChE ‘38, passed away on September 3. He was 88. Aftergraduating from Georgia Tech, Gen. Davis received his commission as a 2nd lieutenant in 1938and retired as a four-star general in 1972 after serving in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

Gen. Davis received the Medal of Honor for commanding troops in the 1950 battle of ChosinReservoir in Korea. He was also awarded the Navy Cross, two Distinguished Service Medals,two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merit awards, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, five PresidentialUnit citations, and three Naval Unit citations.

He ended his military service as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, the nation’ssecond-highest-ranking Marine.

After retiring, Gen. Davis advocated for veterans, especially for those who fought in Korea. He organized a movement that led to the1995 creation of the war memorial in Washington. Locally, veterans established the Gen. Ray Davis Chapter of the Korean War Veter-ans Association.

In his later years, Gen. Davis was involved at Georgia Tech on international security issues, especially as they related to northeast Asia.He was active in the Center for International Strategy and Technology Policy in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs of theIvan Allen College. Gen. Davis is survived by his wife, Willa Knox Davis; sons, Gordon M. Davis and Raymond G. Davis Jr.; daughterWilla Kerr; and seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Gen. Raymond Davis, ChE ‘38, holdinghis Medal of Honor.

We Welcome Your Questions, Comments, or News:

ChBE Newsletter:Josie Giles (404) 385-2299Email: josie.giles@chbe.gatech.edu

ChBE Program Information:ChBE Main Office (404) 894-2867

ChBE Development & Alumni News:Jenny Daley (404) 894-0987Email: jenny.daley@chbe.gatech.edu

C h B N E W S Copyright 2004School of Chemical & Biomolecular EngineeringGeorgia Institute of TechnologyAn equal education and employment opportunity institution.

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OBITUARIESContinued from page 10

1943Joseph S. Carruthers, III ofKingsport, Tenn., passed awayon March 11. He served in thePacific Theater in the Navyduring W.W. II and worked as achemical engineer for TennesseeEastman Company from 1949until his retirement in 1981, thesame year he retired as a NavelReserve lieutenant commander.

Antonio “Tony” L. Navarropassed away on August 16 ofheart failure. He worked forShell Chemical and W. R. Grace,and wrote Tocayo about his timefirst supporting, then resistingthe Castro revolution in Cuba.

1948Alton “Al” Newton, Jr., ChE‘48, M.S. ChE ‘49, Tech’s firstRhodes Scholar, passed away onAugust 19.

1950James T. Madry, ChE ‘50, M.S.ChE ‘53, of Statesville, N.C.passed away on August 25. AKorean War veteran and MedicalCollege of Georgia graduate, hepracticed medicine in Fla. andN.C. until his retirement in 1996.

1951John Ergle, ChE ‘51, ‘57,passed away.

1954Thomas Whitfield Wilson,ChE ‘54, M.S. ChE ‘62, passedaway on August 10 having suc-cumbed to cancer at the age of71. Tom’s professional careerbegan with DuPont in 1962 atEastern Labs in N.J. and spanned34 years before his retirement in1996 from Savannah River Siteas Manager of Hazardous Mate-rials Transportation.

Correspondence May Be Mailed to this Address:

School of Chemical &Biomolecular EngineeringGeorgia Institute of TechnologyAtlanta, GA 30332-0100

www.chbe.gatech.edu

ChBE